Our strategy
To really thrive, we need a stronger, more representative workforce and for that we have to do things differently to make engineering more attractive. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to enable more young people, from all backgrounds, to be informed, inspired and progress into engineering and technology.
Our strategy from 2023 to 2028 is to do this in 4 ways, through research and evidence to understand workforce needs and how to inspire the next generation, by working in partnership and leading efforts to improve our collective impact, by running activities for schools to ignite a passion for engineering and technology and through advocacy, so all students have the STEM careers education they need and deserve.
Research and evidence
We will establish the composition of the current engineering and technology workforce, future workforce needs and how to address them. Sharing our evidence will help ensure that careers information is accurate and is given in an inclusive and impactful way, policy development is better informed and all engineering and technology engagement activities are inclusive and inspire the next generation.
What does this look like?
- We analyse the current workforce and future workforce needs
- We look at STEM education pathways and STEM careers provision
- We analyse young people’s attitudes to careers in the industry
- We evaluate our work and review evidence to understand what works
- We share our evaluation findings and tools
- We will test how levels of engagement impact future choices
Leadership
We will lead efforts to grow the collective impact of all engineering and technology inspiration and careers activities with young people of school age. Working together we can ensure more students participate in quality engineering and tech experiences, improve the coordination, inclusivity, targeting, efficiency and impact of engagements and create and share relevant, inspiring and accessible careers resources.
What does this look like?
- We lead The Tomorrow’s Engineers Code to drive collaboration and grow our collective impact
- We provide bespoke STEM engagement support for Professional Engineering Institutions and our Corporate Members
- We curate and share best practice online and through events
- We showcase quality engagements to UK schools through the Neon website
- We create and share inspiring case studies and careers resources
Activities for schools
We will expand our own activities to encourage more, and more diverse, young people into engineering, technician and tech roles. We can increase the reach and impact of our activities for young people through targeting, testing and iteration. We use our expertise to focus our work on 11 to 14s and we are prioritising content related to sustainability.
What does this look like?
- We’re working to reach more young people with our light touch activities
- We aim to double the reach of our more intensive activities, focusing on our priority schools
- We run the Big Bang programme, which includes fairs, school activities and a national competition
- We aim to have proportionate participation across the UK
- We’re developing and testing new activities linked to future skills needs, especially for sustainability
Advocacy
Advocacy and support to address policy and delivery challenges in STEM and careers education and workforce planning for engineering and tech. Advocating for policy improvements can help ensure young people get the opportunities they need to go into engineering and tech. In supporting vocational routes we can grow the number of young people going into engineering and tech careers.
What does this look like?
- We advocate for policy improvements in areas such as:
- engineering and tech careers provision
- vocational routes into engineering
- STEM teacher recruitment
- strategic governmental workforce planning
- We are part of the National Engineering Policy Centre
- We’re working on what we can do to advocate for and support vocational routes, particularly T level
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